Omgelder

• Xbox Rom Files
• Gameboy Rom Download
• Rom Files For Emulators

3 years ago, I posted a review at this site: Emulators for Pocket PCs: An Overview of the Best. Liberty was the first Palm emulator – for use with Gameboy cartridges. Mar 04, 2009  ROM Extractor 1.0 This program can extract modules from ROM. Program only can extract modules (exe,dll,cpl.) (files which have FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ROMMODULE) but not designed to copy other ROM files, like bmp. You can copy other ROM files by using a file manager. Program can handle both XIP and EXTIMAGE files. RomUlation lets you play console classics on your computer or Android. Re-live your childhood today. Gameboy Color. PlayStation PSX. PlayStation 2 (PS2.

This is the new /r/Emulation wiki page. For the old wiki, please go here.

On this page you will find all that is needed in order to start emulating retro console, arcade, and PC on your computer.

Much of the information on this page is specific to Windows and Linux. For Mac OS information, see our Mac OS page.

If you have questions, check the Frequently Asked Questions page just in case it's covered there, see the Emulation General Wiki for more in depth information than what's listed here, and feel free to ask in the weekly question thread.

Emulation 101

Emulation is essentially using software to make your computer pretend to be another, different machine. For example, making your PC think it's a Super Nintendo, or turning your tablet into a PSP. Emulators aren't games themselves, they're applications that do a (live!) translation of games for foreign systems.

Emulation is complicated, and can be surprisingly CPU-intensive. For example, the most accurate SNES emulator recommends a 3.0GHz CPU to run properly, despite the fact that the SNES CPU was only 3.58MHz! This is because the program simulates the interactions of the various hardware components, with each reacting to and affecting other pieces, in the exact same amount of time that the real hardware requires. Emulators that work this precisely are called 'cycle accurate.'

HLE versus LLE

These stand for High and Low Level Emulation, respectively. These are poorly defined terms, because to some degree, all emulation is high level. No computer on the market can emulate every transistor in a SNES, at least not in realtime. Every emulator implements a series of abstractions, it's just a matter of where the lines are drawn. Are the functional units individual chips? That's probably LLE. Is the abstraction 'the display should show X when Y game runs'? That's probably HLE.

LLE breakdown

Broadly speaking, LLE emulators are trying to function at the level of individual chips inside a device. They might, for instance, have separate areas of the code to simulate the CPU, the sound chip, the video hardware, any I/O to external devices, battery-backed RAM for savegames on the cartridge, and so on. Typically, they're trying to be cycle-accurate, with their simulated chips taking exactly as long to react as the real thing, producing identical results. (If input X shows up, then Y milliseconds later, Z output should be emitted.) This can be extremely resource intensive, so only older, simpler systems can usually be emulated this way, and only on fast PCs. Phones and tablets normally don't have enough horsepower to be this accurate. For more information, see: What exactly is a cycle-accurate emulator?

HLE breakdown

High-level emulation is more common, and allows host machines to emulate much more powerful platforms, such as the Playstation 2, Dreamcast, and Wii. HLE emulators are under development for even recent consoles, like the Wii U, 3DS, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360, with varying degrees of success.

High level emulation attempts to duplicate the response of the hardware (that is, what the hardware does) without emulating the hardware itself. It's trying to replicate the results of running the game code, not the process of running it. By operating at this level, emulator authors are free to write implementations that are faster and more efficient on their intended host.

High level abstractions are inherently inaccurate. (If they exactly duplicated all aspects of the original hardware, that would most likely be an LLE approach!) Game devs were famous for pushing console hardware to do unexpected things, sometimes things that the manufacturer never intended. If game code is being unusually tricky in how it drives a given console, an HLE emulator may produce visible or audible glitches, or might even crash. It's quite common for HLE emulators to end up with detection code for different games, throwing themselves into different abstractions based on what the programmer knows that specific code does. In essence, they become a bunch of separate emulators under one name. The programmers are trading their coding time to save processing power on the other end, bringing emulation of much more difficult systems into reach. But keeping all these different sub-emulators debugged can be very difficult; with so many unique code paths, even small changes in the shared, underlying code base can have large and unexpected ramifications, putting subtle glitches into dozens of games at once.

In short, HLE makes some forms of emulation possible, but programmers have to work hard to maintain the extra code. LLE requires a great deal more processing power by the host device, but if implemented correctly, can handle any arbitrary game, including ones that the emulator developers have never seen before.

By operating at a higher level, sometimes HLE emulators can implement new game features, like higher resolutions, new textures, or improved frame rates. The game may suddenly be rendering at 1920x1080 or even higher, but to the system there is no indication anything is different; it behaves as though it's still outputting to its standard display, without bugs. An example would be Wind Waker on Dolphin: it looks much better, running upscaled on a PC, than it ever looked on the Gamecube. It's roughly comparable to the HD rerelease on the Wii U, except using the original code to do it.

Most of the time, if an LLE emulator is available for your chosen system, and if your host machine is fast enough, it will work better. HLE emulators, though, will often offer more features, because they're not tying themselves as tightly to the original hardware. A few advanced programs, like Dolphin, offer both options, letting you switch between HLE and LLE, based on what works best for you.

While all this sounds a bit complicated, it matters more for choosing an emulator than for running it. Once you know the emulator you want, and have your source files, in most cases you can just launch your games and play. Below is a list of many available emulators, organized by platform, with download links.

For general 'getting started' information for absolute beginners, go here for step by step tutorials for downloading and setting up several major emulators. Otherwise, many can be downloaded from the links below.

Emulators

Please note that some of the emulators below are multiplatform (Windows/Linux/Mac) while others are only a single platform (usually Windows). Also, while some are multiplatform, in some cases the links below are Windows-only, and to download the emulator on Linux, you will need to utilize your package manager of choice to acquire it, as opposed to downloading the binary from the site linked. It is assumed that if you're on a Linux desktop that you know how to do this, but if you need assistance feel free to make a post about it on the subreddit.

Also, as noted above, a Mac specific page of the wiki will be incoming. A contributor, /u/kaioshade, has offered to assist in building that knowledge base.

Please note that the information below will not list every available emulator, but rather, in cases where there are many, just a selection of some of the best options. This is more of a 'getting started' wiki than a full comprehensive emulation database.

Emulators under active development will be marked with an *asterisk.

Multiple platforms

Retroarch

Retroarch is a multi-system library of emulators in an all-in-one interface, that lets you download emulators (known in the application as 'cores') within the main Retroarch application, and configure them all together in a unified interface.

Retroarch is generally highly recommended, though it is suggested to read the documentation, as it's a big, and somewhat complicated program. Also, if for some reason it crashes, it does not appear to close gracefully. Some of the most common cause of crashes is missing a BIOS file for a core that needs it, or having the wrong version/file name of BIOS. Otherwise though, it has been excellent for 8 and 16 bit emulation (NES, SNES, Sega Master System/Genesis, PC-Engine). There's almost no configuration. Controller automatically configures if it supports XInput (like XBox 360 controller).

Retroarch can be downloaded for various platforms at the Libretro website's buildbot.

Consoles

NES

NES emulators aren't too system intensive, so even running a high/cycle accurate emulator should be fine for most people. Mesen would be recommended due to having the highest accuracy, however puNES comes in at a very close second if you're on a non-Windows OS or don't like Mesen's UI.

Super Nintendo

Higan is (arguably) the closest thing we have to a 'perfect' emulator for any system. It runs 100% of SNES games, with no known/visible bugs. snes9x is also superb, and is recommended if you have an older PC. It's still really accurate so it's a good speed/accuracy tradeoff. ZSNES IS HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULD NEVER USE IT, with the exception of hacks that exploit broken parts of the emulator itself, and so require it to run properly.

Nintendo 64

CEN64 isn't yet viable, so your best choice right now is probably paraLLEl, or if that proves too buggy then you might want to try M64+ or it's libretro port through RetroArch or Phoenix. Project64 is your best bet for a 'just works' solution, however it's Windows exclusive, known for having adware/weird development practices, and you still have to deal with setting up plugins.

Gamecube / Wii

Wii U

Sega Genesis/Megadrive and Master System

PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16

Sony Playstation

Xbox Rom Files

Honestly, all the PS1 emulators have their quirks, but all are also pretty good. Which you use is up to personal preference.

Sega Saturn

If you're on Windows or Linux, try Mednafen. If you're on OS X, try Yabause. If you're on Android or iOS, try uoYabause. Note that you will need to find the appropriate BIOS to make it work.

Atari Jaguar

Xbox (original) and Sega Chihiro

Sega Dreamcast

Reicast is the successor to NullDC, being headed by the same development team. It is recommended that you switch from NullDC to Reicast if you wish to use this over DeMul.

Playstation 2

Xbox 360

PlayStation 3

Handhelds

Nintendo Gameboy/Gameboy Color

Sega Game Gear

Gameboy Advance

Nintendo DS

It should be noted that no DS emulator supports WiFi, which means no Download Play or Local Multiplayer is supported. DeSmuME supports Nintendo WFC, however the fan-hosted WFC does not have most of the original functionality that the original WFC had, such as the GTS in the various Pokemon games.

Nintendo 3DS

Playstation Portable

Gameboy Rom Download

Hybrids

Nintendo Switch

Arcade

Computers

Apple ][

The Apple ][ was a relatively simple machine. Its most notable innovations were in bringing manufacturing costs down, and in the extremely, extremely complete documentation that Apple provided. With its large case and multiple expansion slots, it was an easy machine to add functionality to, and the documentation made developing these boards relatively simple.

Apple's major focus was into the education market, and if you were going to school in the 80s, you probably used an Apple ][ Plus or ][e. A secondary focus was the business market.

From a gamer perspective, they're nothing special, with very poor graphics and sound. Most of its good games were ported to other, better machines.

Some notable titles: Wizardry (one of the first full RPGs), Flight Simulator, the Infocom titles, Choplifter, Aztec, Castle Wolfenstein, Ultimas 1 through 4.

Most other Apple ][ emulators seem to be abandoned by their authors.

Amiga

Atari ST

Commodore 64

Macintosh

PC / DOS

File Compression

Game files got pretty large after the 16-bit era. A multi-disc PS1 game can be 2-3GB in size. PSP titles can be well over a GB. Check out this guide from the /r/emulation subreddit for information on compressing your ISOs and other large format files for PS1, Dreamcast, PSP, and so on. This can help reduce the amount of storage your ROM/ISO collection takes up. That matters for folks with smaller hard drives. :)

Thanks to /u/duhlishus for the guide.

Game Recommendations

Rom Files For Emulators

Sometimes you just don't know what game you want to play. That's okay. /v/'s got you.